Do You Use the Core Pantheon?

[WizarDru]

Yes.

Most important deities include: Pelor, Corellon Larenthan, Iuz, Tharizdun, Vecna, Fharlanghan, Wee Jas, Beory, Heironeous and Ralishaz. A few others more tangentially, including Kord as comic relief.

All other things being equal, I use the core deities unless using a specific setting (such as the Valus).

 

[Ziggy]

My campaign is FR, and thus uses the FR pantheon (most prominent are Tempus, Lathander, Sune, Kelemvor, Bane, Cyric, Dumathoin, Clangeddin and Anubis).

In another homebrew we use the core pantheon. Most prominent are Pelor, Heironeous and Hextor.

.Ziggy

 

[der_kluge]

Mostly no. I use the gods from Bluffside - simple, generic (for the most part). I did have a reference to Moradin, when the PCs discovered an ancient dwarven hall in a lost land. That was it.

 

[DragonLancer]

I run Dragonlance so no. However I haved used them as generic deities in a couple generic homebrew adventures for one off sessions or short lived campaigns.

 

[The_Gneech]

Yes, since I'm currently running a Greyhawk game. If I was using a different setting, the answer would be no -- but they make very good placeholders.

-The Gneech

 

[Voadam]

Let's call this market research.

Do you use the core pantheon? If so, which gods from it feature prominently in your campaigns?

Thanks,

Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon

Yes, but not exclusively.

Featured prominently:

St. Cuthbert

Gruumsh

Iuz

Lolth

Xan Yae

I forget the name of the Unicorn one, but she got used a bunch years ago (one of the few direct deity manifestations in my old campaign).

 

[Citizen Mane]

Yes. I decided to use them in my homebrew after really thinking about what I would get out of creating my own pantheon rather than reworking the core one slightly. For me, it just wasn't worth the extra effort for what was going to be minimal gain. Gods that featured prominently were St. Cuthbert, Pelor, Wee Jas, and Kord (I was running the Adventure Path, so I'm sure that had a lot to do with the selection there...).

Nick

 

[Khur]

I don't use (or like) Greyhawk. While I still could, I don't use the core gods, because I find them too simplistic and to have nothing in common with an actual religion (or set of religions). The Eberron take on religion is much closer to the type of thing I like.

The real thing the core pantheon has going for it (not considering Complete Divine) is it has so few gods. That is cool. One of the things so hard to swallow about Forgotten Realms is the presense of so many divinities.

I like the idea of one set of gods with differing names and religions among difffering cultures. In my campaign, that's the way it works.

 

[Talmun]

I have run two Greyhawk campaigns over the last 4 years, and the core pantheon figures prominently.

I've used worshipers or clerics of all the major core deities (save for perhaps Yondalla), and I tend to use St. Cuthbert (The current PC's spend time in Verbobonc), Vecna, Grummsh(sp) and Nerull the most, with the others (including lesser Greyhawk gods) sprinkled in liberally. The clerics in this party worship the ascended PCs from the previous campaign.

and in that game, which went epic/divine, the characters, at various times, met or dealt with: Bahamut, Zagyg, Vecna, Nerull and We Jas. The clerics in that party worshiped Sif and Henali, though.

 

[Mallus]

No.

I only run homebrews. And I love making dieties. Besides, the core material, by its nature, tends to skew toward the broadly applicable and "all-ages".

I have gods/goddesses like The Smouldering Whore of Ur-Imbra and Mr. Three-Legs... not the sort thing you find in the PHB.

 

[Belen]

No and I will never use them. I really dislike the GH gods. If I use any gods, then I use the FR deities or the dragonlance deities.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'm afraid that the only time I use the core Pantheon is when I'm running a Greyhawk campaign, in which case it's the setting Pantheon.

When I do homebrew, which is rare these days, I still usually go ahead and do the extra work of creating my own deities.

 

[MarauderX]

I like the breadth of the 'standard' PHB gods, thought it was well done to cover every alignment and domain, and decided to use them in lieu of creating my own. I wish it was released as open gaming content, but understand how it wasn't in order to maintain it as part of GH, which perhaps it shouldn't.

The PHB/GH pantheon is good as a baseline, and the loose affiliation of those gods lets me as a DM yank or add in any other gods as I want without having to worry about upsetting a spidery web of intrigue among the gods. Thus I retained the 'standard' gods for the campaign I am running, as it is one of many flavoring backdrops I didn't want to goof around with and force players to learn. The gods are something that I can define to help storylines and plots as the players ascend in levels, but I can leave their acts and such out of much of the picture until the players a eager to learn more.

I was a little let down by Deities & Demigods as it defined the gods' statistics with broad brush strokes, but liked how other pantheons were defined to allow those with homebrews that have a different pantheon in each region to plug them in easily. But I don't think many have used the alternates beyond this, including myself, but instead plucked what was liked from it and other sources to create something similar but new, as can be seen by much of what was posted already.

 

[scourger]

Yes.

I use the core.

I'm currently running the Shackled City adventure path (I'm on the 1st adventure), so the core deities figure prominently. There are no clerics in the group, probably due to the inclusion of classes from other games: jedi, judges and explorers.

The last cleric I played was in a FR campaign and was a follower of Boccob. This was mainly to keep neutral and have access to great domain spells; but also so I wouldn't have to mess around with learning FR deities.

I'll also agree with posters above that core gods are the best for Dungeon since they are easily portable.

 

[Jack of Shadows]

Absolutlely,

Currently my campaign is heavily influenced by Wee Jas, Cuthbert, Kord, Bahamut, Pelor, Nerull, Vecna, Erythnull and Farlaughnyn.

I would kill to see the Core/Greyhawk pantheon receive a full work up. To date what little has been written about the various faiths and religions barely amounts to a couple paragraphs. The really great thing about the GR gods is that they are mixed from several different racial origins (Suel, Baklunnish, Oeridian...).

In particular I would really like to see a full work-up on the faith of Wee Jas. But that's just me. I've made a Wee Jassian Paladin, Monk, and Cleric. The Paladin in particular gave a great twist on the conventional perceptions of Paladins.

What I'd REALLY like to see is Grayhawk done up to the degree that Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and now Ebberon have been done.

Jack

 

[Jack of Shadows]

Bloody double post

 

[Shemeska]

I run a 3e Planescape game so sure I use the 'Core Pantheon' but they're just the deities of a single prime world, Greyhawk, and they all see about as much use as the deities of Toril or the multispheric pantheons.

However of the Greyhawk deities I've specifically used Vecna (and his ruined former domain of Cavitius in Quasielemental Ash), Pelor, and Boccob.

 

[MarauderX]

I like the breadth of the 'standard' PHB gods, thought it was well done to cover every alignment and domain, and decided to use them in lieu of creating my own. I wish it was released as open gaming content, but understand how it wasn't in order to maintain it as part of GH, which perhaps it shouldn't.

The PHB/GH pantheon is good as a baseline, and the loose affiliation of those gods lets me as a DM yank or add in any other gods as I want without having to worry about upsetting a spidery web of intrigue among the gods. Thus I retained the 'standard' gods for the campaign I am running, as it is one of many flavoring backdrops I didn't want to goof around with and force players to learn. The gods are something that I can define to help storylines and plots as the players ascend in levels, but I can leave their acts and such out of much of the picture until the players a eager to learn more.

I was a little let down by Deities & Demigods as it defined the gods' statistics with broad brush strokes, but liked how other pantheons were defined to allow those with homebrews that have a different pantheon in each region to plug them in easily. But I don't think many have used the alternates beyond this, including myself, but instead plucked what was liked from it and other sources to create something similar but new, as can be seen by much of what was posted already.

 

[eris404]

Just out of curiosity, why do you ask?

 

[Mercule]

Further thought: if I were just starting my homebrew (it's 20+ years old at this point), I'd probably love to use the deities in the PH as a seed. I'm sure the names would end up changed, but they are a great starting point.